Advocates ask Prosecutor to pursue animal cruelty charge in crash that killed dog, injured owner

Local animal welfare advocates have filed a letter asking the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office to charge an Amherst man with the death of a dog he allegedly killed in an impaired crash in December. Police allege that Sean Bankston, 34, of Amherst struck Jessica Paige, 65, and her dog Ishe, a rescued 10-year-old pit mix, near Rome Beauty Drive and North Quarry Road on Dec. 20. Ishe was killed and Paige was left with skull, neck, hip, knee and ankle fractures and a brain bleed. Bankston faces a felony aggravated vehicular assault charge as well as misdemeanor charges for operating a vehicle under the influence, refusing a blood alcohol test and operation with wanton disregard for public safety in Lorain County Common Pleas Court, but two Lorain County animal advocacy groups want to see him charged for the death of Ishe as well. On Feb. 3, the Friends of the Lorain County Dog Kennel and Lorain County Pit Crew filed a joint letter with 625 signatures attached to Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo, asking him and his office to review whether Bankston could also be held accountable for killing the dog. On Monday, Cillo said that the case was currently being reviewed by his office in preparation for going before a grand jury, and that whether Bankston should be charged in the dog's death was already a part of that review. "I was always going to look into it," Cillo said. "We just evaluate cases based upon the evidence as it applies to the law. It's not based on a petition by somebody else, that is more of a popularity contest for charging people." In the letter, signed by Pit Crew founder Candi Rogers and Friends of the Lorain County Dog Kennel founder Toni Mittler, the groups asked Cillo to consider whether Bankston could be charged under Ohio's companion animal protection law, commonly referred to as "Goddard's Law." Passed in 2015 and named for longtime Cleveland weatherman Dick Goddard, the law makes it a fifth degree felony to "knowingly cause serious physical harm to a companion animal," such as pets or other domestic animals. "We recognize that Ohio's animal cruelty statutes… are often evaluated through the lens of intent and can involve complex, fact-specific analysis," the letter said. "At the same time, Ohio prosecutors have demonstrated discretion in applying felony cruelty-to-companion-animal charges in circumstances where an animal's death occurred as a result of reckless or unlawful conduct, even when the animal was not the specific target of that conduct." It referenced a case in Dayton in the fall of 2024, in which a man who was fleeing from police struck and killed a cat. Though the death of the cat was not the goal of the crime which caused it, prosecutors still chose to pursue the cruelty charge because the defendant knowingly engaged in dangerous activity which led to the death. Rogers and Mittler argued that Cillo's office could use the same reasoning to charge Bankston. "Ishe's death was not the result of an unavoidable accident," the letter said. "It occurred during the alleged operation of a vehicle while impaired — a conscious decision that placed the public, including Jessica Paige and her dog, at significant risk. The consequences of that decision were devastating; the permanent loss of a beloved companion animal and life-altering injuries to her guardian." Bankston is currently being held in the Lorain County Jail on a $250,000 bond. His next court date is set in Oberlin Municipal Court on Feb. 12. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.